Art Works Sites

This 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Newsgathering" by Suzanne Scheuer and Hebe Daum depicts a busy newspaper office scene.

This 10' x 36' PWAP fresco "Industries of California" by Ralph Stackpole, who was assisted by Thomas Hayes, depicts workers engaged in numerous California industries. Stackpole, primarily a sculptor, learned fresco for this project.  

This 9' x 10' PWAP fresco "Sports" by Edward Terada is located on the second floor of Coit Tower. It is accessible only during the Saturday morning tour.  

The Coit Tower label for this 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Department Store" by Frede Vidar reads as follows: "Available for purchase are fabrics, toys, wines, and music. Shoppers rest at the lunch counter where the special is advertised at 25 cents."  

Under the auspices of the PWAP, Clifford Wight painted several 10' x 4' mural portraits for Coit Tower, including "Cowboy," "Surveyor," "Steelworker" and "Farmer." The latter is said to be a portrait of fellow artist Ralph Stackpole.

The description at Coit Tower of this controversial 10' x 10' PWAP fresco "Library" by Bernard Zakheim reads: "Joining the artist in the library are family and friends. The artist is reading a Hebrew book. Fellow artist John Langley Howard reaches for a Marx book, Ralph Stackpole learns about the destruction of the Rivera mural at Rockefeller Center in New York, and Beniamino Bufano reads about his proposed St. Francis statue." In addition to the Marx volume, if you look closely you can see a number of other controversial headings in this fresco. Note also the way the real window is worked...

This 9 x 16 foot oil on canvas by Maurice Del Mue was completed in 1937 for the College of Marin science building. It remains in the original location.

"The City acquired this land on July 19, 1910, and since the 1920s Italian-Americans of Queens have gathered here to celebrate Columbus. The Board of Aldermen, on April 1, 1930, named the site for the famed explorer. The Italian Chamber of Commerce installed a bronze tablet here on October 12, 1937, indicating its intention to build a full monument to Columbus. In 1938, with funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Italian sculptor Angelo Racioppi was commissioned to create the seven foot tall bronze of a youthful Christopher Columbus standing in front of a ship’s tiller. At the unveiling event on...

The oil-on-canvas mural Orange Pickers by Paul Julian is the only Works Progress Administration (WPA) post office mural in Orange County. It was painted in 1941 or 1942 at the Federal Arts Studio in Los Angeles and then installed in the lobby of the post office in 1942.  The 6 foot by 13 foot mural depicts images of Fullerton industries including citrus, oil and aviation. The style of the mural is known as regionalism which was very popular during this time period. This mural was Julian’s last public arts project. Julian then went on to have a successful career in the...

The CCC-built administration building of the park contains two WPA murals "by Odon Hullenkremer, a Hungarian-bom artist who worked with the WPA Federal Art Project during the 1930s. The larger of the paintings, six feet by twelve feet, hangs on the north wall of the Visitor Center in the administration building and is called "Commencement of Main Dam Construction." The foreground of this painting depicts four surveyors with their instruments. The actual identities of the surveyors depicted have been verified by their descendents. In the background are depicted machines and men at work. The second Hullenkremer painting, "Conchas City, New...

One of the five restored Alice in Wonderland murals painted by Abram Champanier in 1938-40 is hung in the Cumberland Center at 100 N Portland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205.  The mural was originally created for the Gouverneur Hospital children’s ward in lower Manhattan, but was neglected and then restored in the early 1990s. The mural is listed on the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation art collection website, dated 2006. The present status of the mural is unknown to us. A 1994 New York Times article on WPA murals in NYC notes it is in the E.R. of Coney Island Hospital.

From contributor Jimmy Emerson, DVM: "Post Office mural entitled "Plantation, Transportation, Education" was painted by Abraham Harriton in 1941. In 1987, the newly appointed Postmaster had the mural removed from the wall of the post office. It now hangs in the Augusta Convention and Visitor's Bureau in the old Enterprise Mill."

The mural "Men at Rest" was painted for the Morrilton post office by Richard Sargent in 1939. The work was sponsored by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is no longer located in the post office, but has instead been moved to the front entryway of the Conway County Courthouse. "Richard Sargent was commissioned for $590 to create a mural for Morrilton, Arkansas as a result of an Honorable Mention in a Section of Fine Arts Competition. The section chose the current composition, formerly titled 'Thirsting Men,' from a number of black and white sketches Sargent had submitted. The mural...

"Coral Way School, built as Coral Way Elementary School in 1936, is a K-8 school located in Miami, Florida, USA... The school building was designed by August Geiger, a noted South Florida architect who worked for the Dade County School Board. The architecture is in a Mediterranean Revival style with arcaded walkways around interior courtyards resplendent with lush foliage. It was constructed under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration and completed in 1936."   (wikipedia) The school also received numerous WPA artworks, including several mosaics of local animals and Art Deco mosaics of figures picking oranges.

These seven 6' x 9' relief panels are carved from Indiana limestone and were intended for the school library. "The Legend of California is a set of seven incised relief panels carved from Indiana limestone for the Library of the Coronado High School. Dedicated in February of 1941, the central panel depicts the mythical Amazonian Queen Calafia, after whom California was named. The side panels depict the various ethnic groups that have made up the population of the state. The Legend of California was executed under the sponsorship of the Federal Government Works Progress Administration." (https://content.cdlib.org)

This 59" high woven tapestry "Fruits of the Earth" was designed by Donal Hord, and woven by Marian Kendall, V. Kelley, and F. Manchester. It was created in 1939 with support from the WPA Federal Art Project. It originally hung at the San Diego Administration Center.

This mural "Agricultural Theme" was painted for the Windom post office by Charles W. Thwaites in 1943 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural, as well as two alternate sketches composed by Thwaites, now hang in the county museum.

On the third floor of the federal courthouse (then the post office) is a 1936 TRAP mural entitled "Morgan's Raiders" painted by Daniel Boza.

Located on the ceiling of the courtroom in the former US Post Office and Courthouse (now used by Tennessee Appellate court), von Wicht's unblinded "Goddess of Justice" is reclining atop the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

"Oil-on-canvas murals, painted in 1935-1936, are located on the east and west walls of the lobby. Artists J. Ward Lockwood and Richard Haines received the commissions through a post office mural project awarded by the U.S. Treasury Department's Painting and Sculpture Section. "Pioneers in Kansas," the mural by Lockwood (a Kansas native), is a collage of images associated with role and evolution of the Postal Service during the settlement of the western United States. A stagecoach laden with mail and passengers marks the center of the canvas, with the other images radiating around it. A Pony Express rider and a Native...

According to the website of the General Services Administration "Young American Man and Young American Woman act as sentinels to the main courtrooms of the 1937 Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Erie, Pennsylvania. These two sculptures express the admirable qualities possessed by the young men and women of depression-era America. Kreis communicated the upstanding nature of the figures through his use of monumental, simple forms, and by leaving out any unessential or frivolous details. Further evidence of their moral rectitude is cleverly expressed by the inclusion of the man's faithful dog, which regards his human companion with complete devotion....

New Deal mural entitled "Captain Bilderbook's and John Schoolcraft's Expedition from Holiday's Cove to Fort Henry, 1777" painted by Charles Chapman in 1940. At the time this mural was painted, this office was the main office for Holiday's Cove, WV. In 1947, it along with 2 other communities incorporated and took the name "Weirton."

One of the five restored Alice in Wonderland murals painted by Abram Champanier in 1938-40 is hung in the Cumberland Center at 100 N Portland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205.  The mural was originally created for the Gouverneur Hospital children's ward in lower Manhattan, but was neglected and then restored in the early 1990s. The mural is listed on the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation art collection website, dated 2006. The present status of the mural is unknown to us.

Petrachrome mural by Grace Clements. "Damien High is renovating their physical plant and the music building was one of the structures that needed some T.L.C. While removing the stucco that covered the building's facade the mural was uncovered. What the workers had found was Grace Clements' The Spirit of Music... This mural utilizes a technique called "petra-chrome," which was invented by Stanton Macdonald-Wright for the Federal Art Programs. It is concrete that is colored to create a permanent and weather resistant art work. It is a cousin of tile and opus sectile, but one that is more affordable and uniquely suited to...

Dana Middle School in San Pedro, CA, is home to two oil-on-canvas murals entitled "Life and Travels of Richard Henry Dana, Jr." The murals, by Adrien Machefert, were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1938. They hang on the north and south ends of the school's cafeteria and depict scenes of early San Pedro inspired by Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," the account of an upper class New Englander's life as a seaman on a voyage to California in the 1830s.

"Rhodes garnered a strong reputation within the WPA program in Iowa and was awarded three significant mural projects. The first, a mural for the Storm Lake post office titled “Storm Lake,” was designed and installed in 1937. After a new post office was built, the mural was moved to the Storm Lake Public Library. Earnings made from this commission enabled Rhodes to continue his main focus in oil/easel painting." (projects.mtmercy.edu)

The four-panel mural "Industry, Agriculture, Statesmanship, Commerce" was commissioned by the New Deal Federal Art Project. The mural, installed in the entry lobby of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, is still visible today.  

Two large murals for the Davis School in East Camden, New Jersey were painted by WPA Art Project artists Esther Heppler Inglesby and Russell J. England. The murals portrayed a half-century of progress in the City of Camden. Their names, titles, and current status are unknown to Living New Deal.

Under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project (and not, as some sources site, the Treasury Section of Fine Arts), Russel Vernon Hunter painted three murals for the De Baca County Courthouse. The murals are on the second floor of the courthouse. Collectively entitled "The Last Frontier," they depict several scenes from De Baca County's history.

The historic Delta Music Museum, located at the southeast corner of Louisiana and S. 3rd St. in Ferriday, Louisiana, was originally constructed as the post office. The building was constructed with U.S. Treasury Department funds ca. 1938.

The "Southern Pattern" was painted by Stuart Purser in 1941. It is located in the lobby of the town's post office, which presently houses the Delta Music Museum.

The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned "the Wheelwright" painted by artist Daniel Rhodes in 1942 for the Clayton Branch Post Office in St. Louis, Missouri. The mural was removed from the post office in 1971 and relocated to the Des Moines Federal Courthouse, where it is currently on view.    

"The new armory opened in 1930, and was used as both a training facility and civic event site. The indoor drill floor was used for dances, USO mixers, auto shows, and political and sporting events. In 1932, future heavyweight champion Joe Louis fought his first career bout. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration funded numerous artistic additions to the armory, including three murals, plaster carvings, and extensive wood carvings; this collection of WPA art is the largest collection of federally-funded Depression-era artwork of any building in the state... The Detroit Naval Armory is a limestone structure...

The mural "Shucking Corn" by John V. Bloom was painted in 1939 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for what was then the town post office. The building has since become the DeWitt City Hall.

The third-floor hallway at DeWitt Clinton High School contains two huge New Deal murals by Alfred Floegel, The History of the World (walls) and Constellations (ceiling). The oil on canvas murals were painted in 1934-1940. The History of the World is 5 feet 4 inches high and 194 feet long. Floegel worked on the Clinton High School murals from 1934 to 1940. In the wall mural, different eras of world history are represented in sequence, starting at the rear, proceeding up the right wall, then crossing over and proceeding down the left wall. The ceiling is uniformly done in blue and gold,...

The school contains a WPA mural "Winter and Spring" by Mary C. Hague. Medium: oil on canvas Size: 2 panels, each 12' x 10'

"One of several small monuments in the vicinity of what is known as the “Battle Pass” in Prospect Park, the Dongan Oak Monument commemorates events which took place in this area during the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776. During this significant battle of the Revolutionary War, a large white oak mentioned in 1685 in the patent of Governor Thomas Dongan (1634–1715), was cut down by Colonial soldiers and thrown across the road to impede the advance of the British army."   (www.nycgovparks.org) In the 1930s, the sculpture was restored with federal funding under Karl Gruppe, "chief sculptor of the...

Archibald Garner won the Treasury funded competition for ornamentation of the San Diego Post Office and produced these nine glazed, terra-cotta relief panels illustrating the theme "Transportation of the Mail."

In 1940, Barse Miller painted a two-panel mural at the Downtown Post Office in Burbank, CA. The project was funded by the Section of Fine Arts (SFA) under the newly-created Public Buildings Administration. "This postal branch is graced by a two-panel mural saluting the city's most famous industries--filmmaking and aeronautics. Titled 'People of Burbank,' the 1940 work by Barse Miller fits in with the building's tile and wrought-iron Spanish mission motif" (Rasmussen, 1993). Barse Miller was a teacher at The ArtCenter School in Los Angeles. His other New Deal–funded works in the region include a set of four frescoes (1936) at George...

"Communication" Medium: oil on canvas Size: 4 panels, 3' x 9' each